you teach them what Allah taught you
تُعَلِّمُونَهُنَّ مِمَّا عَلَّمَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ
tuʿallimūnahunna mimmā ʿallamakumu llāh — you teach them from what Allah has taught you
In 5:4 the root ʿ-l-m appears three times in one verse, chaining teaching from Allah to the addressees to the hunting beasts, so that the addressees' training of the animals is drawn from, and dependent on, what Allah first taught them.
The verse builds a three-step chain of the verb ʿallama (form II). First, عَلَّمْتُم (perfect, second masculine plural) states what the addressees have trained of the hunting beasts (جَوَارِح). Second, تُعَلِّمُونَهُنَّ (imperfect, second masculine plural with third feminine plural object) describes the ongoing action: you teach them, the beasts. Third, عَلَّمَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ (perfect, third masculine singular subject Allah, second masculine plural object) names the source: Allah has taught you. The phrase مِمَّا عَلَّمَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ ('from what Allah has taught you') makes the addressees' teaching of the beasts a transmission of what they were themselves taught, not an independent skill. The mirror is thus asymmetrical: the same verb passes downward in two directions from Allah to the addressees, and from the addressees to the beasts, with the addressees standing in the middle as both learners and teachers. The verse then ties the chain to a permitted outcome: eat from what the beasts hold back for you (فَكُلُوا۟ مِمَّآ أَمْسَكْنَ عَلَيْكُمْ), with the name of Allah mentioned over it. The permissibility of the catch rests on the training, and the training rests on what Allah taught, so the whole permitted act is framed as flowing from the initial divine teaching.
Where it occurs
- 5:4 The verse uses ʿallama three times to chain teaching from Allah to the addressees (عَلَّمَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ) and from the addressees to the hunting beasts (تُعَلِّمُونَهُنَّ), after stating what they have trained (عَلَّمْتُم).
All Qur'anic expressions